Free Parking For EV - Rewarding The Rich & Penalising The Poor?

Housing and Local Government Minister Nga Kor Ming announced yesterday that the Madani government is considering exempting electric vehicles (EVs) from local authority/council (PBT) parking fees in cities.

He expressed hope that this initiative would encourage more motorists to adopt EVs. However, given that EVs are currently more accessible to higher-income brackets (M40 and T20), we question the logic behind this proposal, especially since the government does not permit the sale of foreign EVs priced below RM100,000 in the country.

"We are currently studying the possibility of giving parking exemptions for EVs as a push factor for more people to buy EVs rather than traditional fossil fuel cars," Nga was quoted as saying to reporters by news portal The Star.

He mentioned that his ministry is holding discussions with local councils to assess the feasibility of this proposal, citing London's model, where EVs are exempt from parking fees while non-EVs face congestion charges.

On a positive note, Nga acknowledged the slower progress in establishing 10,000 EV charging stations nationwide by 2025, with about 3,000 currently operational (2,585 to be exact). Nga's comments follow Transport Minister Anthony Loke's recent announcement of up to 85% lower road tax for EVs, accompanied by special "green plates" for easy identification during emergencies, to support Malaysia's EV initiatives.

At CariCarz.com, we hope all relevant ministries will seriously address the issues surrounding the slow roll-out of EV chargers, which we have highlighted are hindered by numerous cost implications and bureaucratic red tape, particularly from local councils (PBTs). During a casual chat with some CPOs (Charge Point Operators), we discovered that each PBT's application forms and requirements vary significantly, regardless of the costs involved.

For example, the application form from MBPJ is 17 pages long, while others are merely 2 pages. Why aren't these standardised in the first place to make the entire process more straightforward and simple, which would eventually eliminate mistakes and multiple resubmissions?

It's high time the National EV Steering Committee set matters straight and establish proper guidelines for all PBTs instead of allowing autonomy, which is leading to negative push backs from CPOs, resulting in the slow EV charger roll-out.

Achieving the goal of 10,000 EV chargers will be unattainable unless the government is willing to provide grants to the CPOs or let the CPO direct their finances towards EV Charger roll-out at this stage instead of using this budget to cover TNB and PBT fees.

Initial Source: The Star